US eases requirements, says Afghanistan evacuees don't need negative COVID results

Tens of thousands of Afghans were forced to flee the country and take shelter in different countries after the Taliban's stunning takeover of Kabul on Sunday, August 15. Amid this, the United States has relaxed Kabul evacuees, stating they do not require getting a negative COVID-19 result to travel. Although Afghanistan had been a hotspot for the COVID-19 pandemic, the US said it had taken at least one step to ease requirements for those seeking to leave. The State Department said that those being relocated from Afghanistan by the US government need not go through the COVID test as a blanket humanitarian waiver has been implemented for COVID testing for all such persons. 

US' evacuation process in Afghanistan 

According to reports, the US had to struggle to ramp up its efforts to evacuate American citizens and their Afghan allies from Kabul as the Taliban prevented travellers from reaching the Kabul airport. However, the officials in Pentagon stated that the country's Air Force was flying about 20 C-17 cargo aircraft into and out of Kabul every 24 hours. Following a chaotic breach of the runway at Kabul airport on Monday, August 16, the US military has secured the airport, but the officials also told American citizens that the US government could not guarantee their safety as they travel to the airport. Earlier the US had also deployed many troops to carry out the evacuation process of Americans and Afghan citizens who were working for them from Kabul. 

Afghanistan crisis

The Pentagon has also said of placing as many as 22,000 Afghan immigrants in military housing at Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Lee in Virginia. Following a request from the state department, the approval was given by Austin for the same. Earlier, a UN Special Rapporteur had also urged countries to provide urgent assistance to human rights defenders. As soon as the Taliban took control of the capital city, Afghanistan descended into chaos and residents were seen rushing to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings. Terrifying visuals from war-torn Afghanistan emerged on the web as thousands of civilians flocked to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to leave the city. Taliban has been blocking Afghans from reaching the Kabul airport. 

Image Credit: AP